Clothes-pin.



' R. E. MGCREARY.

CLOTHES PIN.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 21. 1909.

946,255, I Patented Jamll, 1910.

\l n L I r\ I, n j 1 V 12 J J] J0 Ehnvankw Wit" use:

ROBERT E. MCGREARY, OF GUN'I'ERSVILLE, ALABAMA.

CLOTHES-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 21, 1909.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

Serial No. 491,231.

'10 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. MCCREARY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Guntersville, in the county of Marshall and State ofAlabama, have invented a new and useful Clothes-Pin, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to clothes pins, and has for its object to providea device of this character which can be kept permanently on the clothesline and can readily be carried to any point on the clothes line,whereby to secure a handkerchief or a blanket with equal effectiveness.

Another object is to provide a device of this character that can be usedon metal clothes lines so that the articles secured will not come indirect contact with the line, and thus will not be soiled by the rust onthe line.

Still another object is to provide a device of this character that willadjust itself to every strain put upon it and will retain articles ofdifierent sizes, and hold them securely in the strongest breeze.

With these and other objects in View, which will be shown in thefollowing specification, and set forth in the claims, my inventionembraces the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the clothes pin in applied position.Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail, with a portion cut away to show the methodof securing the pin to the clothes line.

It is a well known fact that wit-h the usual style of clothes pin,difliculty is experienced in securing the articles to the line so thatwhen a strong breeze is blowing, the articles will not twist about andwork out of the pin. Every housekeeper knows that it is almostimpossible to secure heavy articles to a metal line by the usual form ofclothes pin, and in many cases a very heavy article, such as a wetblanket cannot be secured to the line at all as its great weight willpull it out of the pin even when there is no breeze. To provide for anoccasion of this kind, I have devised a clothes pin that the more strainput upon it, the tighter it will hold, and having but a few parts thatcan- -not be shaken loose, under ordinary conditions of wind andweather.

In a detailed description of my invention in which like characters ofreference designate similar parts, wherever they occur in the viewsshown, 1 is a metal clothes line of the usual kind, having differentarticles 2 and 3 retained thereon by clothes pins.

The clothes pin consists essentially of a support 4 preferably made ofwood, and substantially rectangular in facial contour. This support isprovided at its opposite ends with openings 5 and 6, leading through thetop and bottom faces of the support, and adapted to receive the verticalends 7 and 8 of the clamping member. This clamping member may be made ofany suitable material, but is preferably made of spring wire, and isadapted to be carried under the support and has the lowest point of itsloop 9 substantially midway the length of the support. The clampingmember is provided with the straight 1portions 10 and 11 adapted to bearagainst t e bottom of the support, the purpose of which will hereafterbe shown. The ends 7 and 8 of the straight portions are bent upward, andterminate in the eyes 12 and 13, adapted to receive and slidingly fitthe clothesline 1. These eyes have a diameter greater than the diameterof the openings 5 and 6, in order that the eyes may be seated on theupper face of the support, and the support forced against the clothesline and the line consequently braced and prevented from bending orbeing formed into kinks by the eyes under the weight of the clothes.

The straight portions 10 and 11 of the clamping member, when in normalposition are held tightly against the bottom of the wooden support bythe loop 9, but will yield sufiiciently to permit the corner of anyarticle of apparel to be forced between them and the bottom of thesupport as shown in Fig. 1.

In applying the clothes pin to the line, the line is made to enter theeyes 12 and 13 as shown in Fig. 2 and the eyes will be so in contactwith the line as to hold the pin in whatever position it may be placed,but the pin is free to be slid to any desired point on the clothes line.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing, the construction and operation of my invention maybe easily understood without a more extended explanation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A clothes pincomprising a support disposed parallel to a clothes line, and a clampingmember having terminal means for engaging a clothes line and holdingsaid support thereto, said clamping member being adapted to bind agarment against the suport.

P 2. A clothes pin comprising a support adapted to be carried underneathand parallel to a clothes line, and a clamping memher having terminalmeans for engaging a clothes line and holding said support thereon,intermediate port-ions adapted to clamp a garment against the support,and a spring connecting the intermediate clamping portions free of thesupport.

3. A clothes pin comprising a support adapted to be carried underneathand parallel to a clothes line, and a clamping memher having straightportions adapted to bear against the bottom of said support, saidstraight portions terminating in eyes encircling the clothes line, and aspring between the straight portions holding them against the support.

4. A clothes pin comprising a support having openings adjacent its ends,said support adapted to be carried underneath and parallel to a clothesline, and a clamping member having straight portions adapted to bearagainst the bottom of the support, the outer ends of said straightportions being bent upward to pass through the openings in the supportand terminating in eyes adapted to bear against the upper surface of thesupport and hold the support on the clothes line, and a dependent springloop connecting the inner ends of the straight portions.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

ROBERT E. MGOREARY. lVitnesses:

DAVID C. JORDAN, lVILLIAM H. EARLY.

